Reaper Man artwork

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
Josh Kirby's Reaper Man artwork

What happens when Death loses his job? He goes with what he knows.

The cover artwork by Josh Kirby for this book in the Discworld saga beautifully illustrates the story inside. It shows us that a man is essentially the same no matter what he does. Being faithful to your calling, even when demoted or replaced, means that someday you will be recognized, and very likely end up in a better position than you held before. The Biblical stories of Daniel and Joseph both demonstrate that integrity pays off in the long run.

To learn more about the book and the Discworld series, read the Wikipedia entry.

Each species in the novel has it's own Death. Notice the Death of Rats on his knee. But, are those hands instead of feet on this guy?

Learn more on Josh Kirby's Reaper Man artwork, and more on the artist himself here.

A neat "Rolling Tombstones" book cover artwork by Josh.

Did you know that Josh was responsible for some awesome movie poster artwork you've seen? Here's one you might recognise...

Sadly, Josh met the Reaper personally at the young age of 72, moving on to parts unknown in October of 2001. His artwork will remain as a testament to his life and talent.

Although the artwork on the Reaper Man book cover made our friendly reaper more of a farmer than cowboyish, it still reminded me of one. So I've rounded up some more western skull images. Considering that in many depictions Death rides a horse, the cowboy motif is appropriate.

The Marlboro Man finally gave up smoking... but sadly, too late.

Riding off into too many sunsets finally killed this cowboy from skin cancer.

"The South will rise again.... and eat you!"

"Well, pardner, the Great Roundup is a' comin'. Whose brand you wearing?"

And looking at skeletal cowpokes we mustn't forget the Caretaker from "Ghost Rider," who in his time as the Rider got around the old-fashioned way.

"Let's ride, son! 'Course, soon as we get there, you're on your own, I'm splittin'."

There are images to be found floating around that show the deleted character from "The Crow" that was originally intended to be the title character's guide. He was cut and replaced by the bird, but here we see he looked a lot like the original Ghost Rider.

"Whaddaya mean, you're replacing me with a blackbird? Sure, he works for birdfeed, but I'm so much cooler!"


"Cut my part, will ya? You are sooo dead!"

Don't forget the zombie gunslinger below from "House II: The Second Story."

"General Custer is roundin' up a gang to gitsome payback. Wanna join?"

And then there's the irascible old mummy-lovin' Judge from "The Frighteners," a movie I'll be featuring on a future blog entry.

"There's some life left in these old bones yet! Jes' ask Anak-Soon-Amun."